JSW, a part of the Rs 32,000 crore OP Jindal Group of Companies is a dynamic, integrated entity with core competency in steel and power. Going forward with a huge expansion plan in the pipeline, JSW?s other verticals include cement, infrastructure, aluminum and software. With the lowest attrition rate of just 6% in the manufacturing sector, JSW is all set to hunt and acquire quality talent and leadership in the organisation.

Even as the Sajjan Jindal promoted JSW (Jindal South West) Group looks to widen its horizons with its expansion programme on the cards, the challenge to get quality people for this project remains a major area of concern for the human resources head in the firm. A plan has, therefore, been chalked out through which it is moving forward to achieve its target of hiring quality people.

Says Anirudh Singh, senior vice-president, corporate HR, JSW Steel Ltd, ?Our turnover at present is more than Rs 12,000 crore and our target is to cross Rs 75,000 crore by 2012. This will result in manpower increase by at least five times more than what we have at present.?

JSW currently employees 7,000 people on the company?s payrolls and going forward it plans to recruit employees across all levels including entry, middle, senior and top level. It is targeting to hire about 180 senior-level executives.

According to the experts, the manufacturing sector, that had a tag of a ?bad paymaster? for over a decade, has now become glamorous and is drawing the attention of many engineers and professionals towards the manufacturing industry.

Singh has said that for the entry-level employees, the company will do campus recruitment to meet the requirement at the operations level. For middle-level recruitment, it plans to promote internal employees through training, where diploma engineers in the organisation will be trained to become graduate engineers. JSW has tied up with Bits Pilani for the purpose.

?We will first try and make an effort to fulfill the requirement through internal sources,? Singh adds.

Moreover, for the general managers (GM) category, the graduate engineers, chartered accountants and cost engineers of the organisation will be provided with a two-year MBA programme. This will be done through a tie-up with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management and Higher Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai to develop a large pool of managers.

?Our target is to promote 100 diploma engineers to graduate engineers per year, while 90 engineers per year will be promoted to the GM post through the MBA programme,? said Singh. Finally, the high performers in the organisation will be promoted as senior-level managers.

When asked if this will fulfill the requirement of gathering a large pool of talent? Singh replied, ?No? but the attempt is ?on?. Apart from internal promotions, the company largely considers advertisement in newspapers as an important medium for hiring employees from outside. Also, it will make use of e-search and engage expert consultants for senior-level appointments.

While IT and manufacturing industries in general have been hit with high attrition rates?with an attrition rate of just 6%, JSW has been successful in retaining its employees. Singh says, ?Apart from a harmonious work culture, we are competitive in salary. Employees who stays with the organisation grow with it.? He remarks, ?We pay better salary to our employees at the entry level than any IT company would pay.?

However, the main problem that the manufacturing companies face while hiring employees is the location of the plant. ?The plants are located at remote places, hence it, sometimes, becomes a problem in attracting talent. Also, the mismatch in the demand and supply creates difficultly in hiring quality people,? Singh reveals.

Meanwhile, the latest trend that is being witnessed and is catching up fast in this sector is variable pay introduced by many of the manufacturing companies including the public sector companies to motivate employees. ?JSW has, in the financial year FY 2008, started a variable pay scheme, where the employee will get 15% of their gross salary as a variable pay?reward for performance?of which, 50% will depend on employees? performance and 50% on the company?s performance,? reveals Singh. Essentially, the employee is expected to align himself to the company?s goals.

This particular company has the following firms under its banner?JSW Energy Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, JSW Aluminium Ltd, JSW Cement Ltd, JSW Infrastructure & Logistics Ltd and JSoft Solutions Ltd. However, declining to give specifics about the total number of employees, the company would hire for each of its group companies, Singh said, ?The maximum number of people will be hired for the company?s steel, cement and aluminium businesses.?

Training is key to the company?s overall performance. The company spends Rs 2-crore a year on training its employees at the corporate level. Going forward, JSW plans to establish BPOs in rural pockets across the country with the help of its Bangalore-based software division JSoft Solutions Ltd. The decision comes in the wake of the success story of its two-year-old rural BPO operating at Toranagallu village in remote Karnataka, where JSW has a steel plant. The Toranagallu unit is a 100-seater, non-voice BPO, providing job opportunities to about 182 women with an educational background of seventh to tenth standard.

This has now prompted JSW to set up more BPOs in rural areas, and the company in August, 2007 has opened a 100-seat commercial BPO in Bellary and is planning to set up more BPOs at all its forthcoming plants.

JSW Group?s investment plan all over India is to invest over Rs 40,000-crore in the next three years. Of this Rs 20,000 crore would be invested in the steel sector, Rs 12,000 in power, and the balance in various sectors. The group has largely grown through organic expansion, although it has done some acquisitions in the past. Recently, in early 2007, the company has made a $900 million acquisition, where it had acquired three separate companies in Baytown in the state of Texas in the US to expand its geographical footprint.

Nevertheless, identifying potential leaders remains a challenge for the JSW group.